The report comes as Finance Minister Tendai Biti told the Commonwealth Business Council in London last Thursday that the land grab was irreversible "no matter how ugly it was done."
The study sought to examine the impact of re-allocating five million hectares of commercial farmland to the peasantry. The report acknowledged that the land reform programme would only have been economically viable if it had been carried out in a manner that allowed resettled farmers to make the investment necessary to achieve productive potential.
The analysis shows that the viability of the land reform exercise depends on support from government during the first five years of resettlement. The report said: "Results seem to be equally promising in terms of production and employment, assuming that the farmers throughout these periods would belong to the high-performance group."
The report is the first in a series, and only looks at the effects of land reform on the beneficiaries. In subsequent reports an economic model will be developed to capture the effects of land reform on key economic variables such as production and employment in the entire agricultural sector, as well as other sectors of the economy.
Meanwhile Biti told the Commonwealth Business Council that the nascent economic recovery Zimbabwe was currently enjoying was anchored on agriculture.
"There is huge potential in the agriculture sector. Testimony lies in the growth in the sector, for example this year's tobacco output reached 174 million kg, resulting in the opening of tobacco auction floors in January instead of the traditional April," Biti said.
"The production of maize has gone up from 300 000 to 1,5 million tonnes between 2008 and 2011," Biti said, adding there was a need to strike a balance between empowerment and attracting investment.
"It is a myth that indigenisation is nationalisation. Real percentages depend on the negotiations and are influenced to a large extent on the size of the investment and the package an investor presents," Biti said.
The study comes at a time when hordes of war veterans and ruling party supporters have intensified their commercial farm invasions of the few remaining white farmers. In some cases they have burnt crops such as tobacco, wheat and export grass.
Critics blame government for a skewed resettlement programme where people are being dumped on farms without proper infrastructure.
"Government administration costs include all types of costs necessary to smooth the process of resettlement," the report said. The researchers estimated that the administration costs include costs specific to the resettlement exercise, and farmer support costs.
It said infrastructure costs covered electricity, water, sanitation, farm road construction, building schools, clinics and animal health facilities. Economists and agricultural experts have pointed out that none of the inputs or support network vital to the success of the scheme have been put in place and the World Bank-sponsored study therefore remains academic.
Post published in: Africa News